stock market

GameStop has seen its stock soar, driven higher by a group of amateur day traders on Reddit, who are taking on Wall Street hedge funds. The frenzy has gotten the attention of regulators and lawmakers.

Stocks surged after Pfizer said its experimental vaccine was more than 90% effective and after former Vice President Joe Biden was elected president.

Investors are betting on at least two more years of divided government, spurring the best weekly stock gains in months.

Investors are also discouraged by the lack of progress in talks between Congress and the White House over another coronavirus relief bill.

Analysts like to say that the stock market is not the economy. But a bear market reflects concerns and anxieties about the economy, and at times a bear market is accompanied by a recession.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 879 points. That's on top of Monday's drop, when the Dow tumbled more than 1,000 points.

The S&P 500 has seen a nearly fivefold increase since the depths of the Great Recession. But some analysts say the bull market may have gone on too long, encouraging investors to take more risks.

The partial government shutdown is hurting the pocketbooks of 800,000 federal workers. But it also could affect consumer and business confidence down the line.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Monday fell 2.9 percent to 21,792.20 — its worst Christmas Eve performance. It Broke the 1918 record. U.S. stocks are on track for their worst year since 2008.